Monday, October 01, 2007

Summer Love

I gotta say, lately, I've been digging Justin Timberlake. Not in a rob-the-cradle, rock-your-body, kinda way, but more because he likes his women sexy. Recently, he's been choosing leading ladies with flesh. With curves. With a little bit of meat on their still-thin frames.

Have you seen his HBO special? (Sadly,) I was struck by his choice of back-up dancers. In my sporadic viewing of the show, I didn't see one skin-on-bones dancer. Granted, the ladies' pelvic-gyrating, crotch-bearing poses weren't necessarily an advertisement for feminism per se, but at least their bodies were as solid as their performance.

14 comments:

I noticed the SAME thing, Dr. S! My secret goal/dream in life is to be a back-up dancer for Justin or Janet or whomever (well, I guess it's not so secret anymore) and I was slack-jawed watching that performance. The dancers were so hot. JT, too.

I don't know what I think about this, honestly... It is still emphasising the body... that 'curvy' SHOULD be the ideal, that we ought to move away from 'thin' to curvy and this will make us a healthier society... I think it feeds into the same logic. Really, should we care if JT likes women to be curvy or not? Should women rely on a male gaze to determine their worth, or whether they're okay or not. I might be more impressed if he had said that he really likes women who are confident and who know their own minds; or, I might have been impressed had he said something about liking women who have passion and have an inner-purpose, and so on,

Reducing women to any sort of bodily form really just leaves me feeling strong. When my husband says I look strong, I seriously want to boot him one (I'm recovering from AN)... not because I don't, but what if I stop looking strong? And what if those curvy women lose their curves, what if they're naturally very thin... we also have a society where women are getting butt and breast implants... Risking their lives to be curvy, losing sensation in their breasts, even, in order to be pleasurable and acceptable to men.

There is a HUUUUGE hyprocracy in the history of this blog, and many like it. For me, to be curvy, I would have to - I don't even KNOW what I would have to do - thats how uncurvy I am.

Should I feel badly about myself because I am not curvy?

Shouldn't Justin pick the BEST dancers - irregardless of body shape/size? What if the best dancers were healthy yet stick thin? If he had chosen 10 healthy skinnies would this blog blast him?

We should support all women, regardless of body shape. And, as Zubelda said, worshipping "curvy" is the same as worshipping "thin" - harmful to those that don't fit that mold. Or, as harmful as those who do not fit the mold allow it to be.

zubeldia--you have an excellent point. Eventually, I hope that we're not commenting on women's bodies at all. But, baby steps. . . For now, I'd like to celebrate women's curves, to celebrate a shape OTHER than thin. Does this mean I'm not accepting of thin women? Of course not! But, I'm trying to balance out our cultural dictate that all women be thin.

I, too, focus on the value of women, what we have to offer as people, not as bodies. What I appreciate about all the women in my life is their minds, their souls. It has nothing to do with their bodies. But, let's face it, our culture likes the body. And, for me to see more variety in women's bodies is exactly the direction I think we should be moving in.

I understand your concern with your husband's compliment. See, I like to look strong because of what it connotes. It connotes that I am a powerful woman who can carry her groceries and possibly defend herself. To me, looking strong, translates to BEING strong. However, I can understand how for you, it still feels focused simply on looks.

z--typo? Maybe you really do want to be strong? ; )

jojo--I don't want you to be curvy. You should be who you are. And I agree, 100%, that we should support all women, regardless of body size. When I praised JT for picking curvier dancers, I wasn't saying that thinner dancers would have been bad. I was simply happy that he was representing the 99% of women who are not naturally stick-thin. I am not worshiping curvy, nor being hypocritical--I think it's important that you be able to grasp both concepts at once. Ideally, I wouldn't have this blog at all. But, I do, because I feel the need to do my small part, to help us get (hopefully) to the point where all women are respected regardless of their shape or size. It's gotta start somewhere. No hypocrisy at all. . .

I feel sad when people say they want women to be either 'curvy' or 'thin' isn't 'curvy' just a euphemism for having breasts?In my opinion whenever men say they like 'curvy' women they mean they want women with bosoms.But what if as I am, you are naturally pear shaped and flat chested with a big bum & thighs, that would not be seen as 'curvy' because of the non existent bosoms, but it's not seen as 'thin' either. I feel like I just can't win.

I have the same body type as the last commenter, and I agree. I have always felt that curvy meant "big breasts". Since I never, ever gain appreciableweight in the upper body, I have always felt I don't have "permission" to be bigger--all the weight will go to the bottom and I'll still have A cups, no matter what. So I've really come to hate that term. I can never win (no matter my weight) without platic surgery, which I consider the height of self-hatred. I will love my body even if society won't!

I understand what Dr. Stacey is saying, i.e. not that we must worship this or that body type but that there is a certain norm in the media and it's nice to see other options too. (Not instead of thin, just in addition to it, esp considering extreme thinness does not represent the vast majority of women, and certainly not of healthy women even tho our culture tries to make it seem that way sometimes. And jojo - great, you'r lean and skinny. I'm sure you have enough affirmations for that from the media. So if one situation in a million actually celebrates another body type, please don't be offended, just think of it as a chance for the rest of us and flip the channel if u want - i'm sure you'll immediately see another skinny woman.)and zubeldia - of COURSE everything u say is so true. obviously this post was sort of based on the assumption that the media is about how people look, so given that, it's nice to see some variety. but ur comments are totally true!

I also thought to myself, tho i haven't seen the HBO special, i do think Scarlett Johansen is not exactly a stretch. She is slim, with boobs, and blond hair and basically what is considered classically attractive in the media and western culture. Sure, she isn't anorexic looking, but I still don't think she represents most women. (Dr. Stacey I still do get what you're trying to say, i'm just saying... she's Scarlett friggin Johansen, not Queen Latifa. what is the world coming to when THAT is the representation of real women? i guess that's part of the point you're making with this blog...)

I also get what the ladies are saying here about curvy meaning boobs. I'm not necessarily saying that's what Dr. Stacey meant but ya some people mean that. Though rest assured ladies, some men like a smooshy tummy. You'd be shocked, but some do! And some men like a big butt, like, REALLY big. And some men like a pear shape, I'm sure.

I know even i, as a woman, sometimes look at someone who happens to be pear shaped and full figured and think she looks so cute just as she is, cute and feminine and beautiful. i'm sure men think this very often too. Because they are horny and not nearly as picky as we think they are. lol no actually because they are all different and have their own tastes, and also they do care about other things.Like, when I like a guy for his character and charisma i tend to see all the good things about his looks. And if I don't like his character, i tend to suddenly notice that he's not so hot after all. And i'm sure men have the same kind of feelings about us.

i'm digressing from the original post, but i was just touched by the posts about body types that REALLY aren't celebrated enough in the media, and i love what that one person said about loving her own body no matter what others think of it. that is a GREAT attitude, but for what it's worth, i'm sure many people love your body too! so work it ;)

I don't know...some new pics of both Scarlet AND Jessica were pretty bony-looking to me...

I also think it's a cultural thing. I don't live in America, and although my country is highly "americanized", some of the cultures here see fat females as the ideal. I purposely use 'fat' because that's just what the ideal is: FAT. Not chubby, chunky, big-boned, healthy, curvaceous, strong, whatever, plain FAT bordering on OBESE.Skinny people get ostracized, mainly because my country is also a country riddled with HIV and AIDS.So on the one hand you have the connotation of skinny = sick with Aids/Tuberculosis; and the other you have supermarkets flooded with stickthin covergirls and barely-there models.

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